Francis X. Clooney

Published in print:

2005

Published Online:

April 2005

ISBN:

9780195170375

eISBN:

9780199835379

Item type:

book

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

DOI:

10.1093/0195170377.001.0001

Subject:

Religion, Theology

Analyzing six Hindu and Christian hymns, Clooney asks questions such as: How have Hindu theologians made room for a feminine divine alongside the masculine, and why? How has Christian thinking about ...
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Analyzing six Hindu and Christian hymns, Clooney asks questions such as: How have Hindu theologians made room for a feminine divine alongside the masculine, and why? How has Christian thinking about divine gender differed from Hindu thinking? What might contemporary feminists, including goddess worshippers and experts in the field of thealogy, learn from the goddess traditions of India? It begins by looking at three specific goddesses as they are presented and addressed in religiously and theologically rich hymns from the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions: Sri Laksmi, the eternal consort of Lord Visnu and life-giver to Him and all the world, praised in the Sri Guna Ratna Kosa (“Treasury of the Jewels That Are Sri’s Qualities”) by Parasara Bhattar (61 verses; 12th century); the great Goddess Devi, in whom the world and gods too exist and flourish, praised in the Saundarya Lahari (“Wave of Beauty”) attributed to Sankara (100 verses; c. 10th century or before); the lovely Tamil Goddess Apirami, who illumines the innermost mind and heart, praised in the Apirami Antati (“Linked Verses for Apirami [the Beautiful One]”) by Apirami Bhattar (100 verses; 18th century). Set alongside the Hindu hymns are three Marian hymns, the ancient Orthodox Christian Akathistos hymn to the Mother of God (6th century); the Stabat Mater, picturing Mary standing by the cross of her son (13th century); the Mataracamman Antati (“Linked Verses in Honor of the Queen among Women, the Goddess [of Mylapore]),” a Tamil hymn praising Mary as the (new and real) mother of Mylapore, a center of Hindu orthodoxy in south India (19th century). Clooney shows how Goddess traditions can be drawn into fruitful conversation with Christian tradition, taking a fresh look at the veneration and theology of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Mother of God, as displayed in three famous Marian hymns from the Greek, Latin, and Tamil traditions. The further question thus arises, How might the study of Hindu goddesses affect Christian thinking about God and Mary? This is a book to read for its insights into the nature of gender and the divine, for the power of the hymns themselves, and for the sake of a religious adventure, an encounter with three Goddess traditions and Mary seen in a new light.Less

Divine Mother, Blessed Mother : Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary

Francis X. Clooney

Published in print: 2005-04-28

Analyzing six Hindu and Christian hymns, Clooney asks questions such as: How have Hindu theologians made room for a feminine divine alongside the masculine, and why? How has Christian thinking about divine gender differed from Hindu thinking? What might contemporary feminists, including goddess worshippers and experts in the field of thealogy, learn from the goddess traditions of India? It begins by looking at three specific goddesses as they are presented and addressed in religiously and theologically rich hymns from the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions: Sri Laksmi, the eternal consort of Lord Visnu and life-giver to Him and all the world, praised in the Sri Guna Ratna Kosa (“Treasury of the Jewels That Are Sri’s Qualities”) by Parasara Bhattar (61 verses; 12th century); the great Goddess Devi, in whom the world and gods too exist and flourish, praised in the Saundarya Lahari (“Wave of Beauty”) attributed to Sankara (100 verses; c. 10th century or before); the lovely Tamil Goddess Apirami, who illumines the innermost mind and heart, praised in the Apirami Antati (“Linked Verses for Apirami [the Beautiful One]”) by Apirami Bhattar (100 verses; 18th century). Set alongside the Hindu hymns are three Marian hymns, the ancient Orthodox Christian Akathistos hymn to the Mother of God (6th century); the Stabat Mater, picturing Mary standing by the cross of her son (13th century); the Mataracamman Antati (“Linked Verses in Honor of the Queen among Women, the Goddess [of Mylapore]),” a Tamil hymn praising Mary as the (new and real) mother of Mylapore, a center of Hindu orthodoxy in south India (19th century). Clooney shows how Goddess traditions can be drawn into fruitful conversation with Christian tradition, taking a fresh look at the veneration and theology of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Mother of God, as displayed in three famous Marian hymns from the Greek, Latin, and Tamil traditions. The further question thus arises, How might the study of Hindu goddesses affect Christian thinking about God and Mary? This is a book to read for its insights into the nature of gender and the divine, for the power of the hymns themselves, and for the sake of a religious adventure, an encounter with three Goddess traditions and Mary seen in a new light.

Rachel Fell McDermott

Published in print:

2001

Published Online:

November 2003

ISBN:

9780195134346

eISBN:

9780199868056

Item type:

book

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

DOI:

10.1093/0195134346.001.0001

Subject:

Religion, Hinduism

This collection presents 145 brief Bengali lyric poems dedicated to the Hindu goddesses Kālī and Umā. The poems — many of which are presented here for the first time in English translation — were ...
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This collection presents 145 brief Bengali lyric poems dedicated to the Hindu goddesses Kālī and Umā. The poems — many of which are presented here for the first time in English translation — were written from the early eighteenth century up to the contemporary period. They represent the unique Bengali tradition of goddess worship (Śāktism) as it developed over this period. The author's lucid introduction places these works in their historical context and shows how images of the goddesses evolved over the centuries. The lively translations of these poetic lyrics evoke the passion and devotion of the followers of Kālī and Umā and shed light on the history and practice of goddess worship.Less

Singing to the Goddess : Poems to Kali and Uma from Bengal

Rachel Fell McDermott

Published in print: 2001-03-22

This collection presents 145 brief Bengali lyric poems dedicated to the Hindu goddesses Kālī and Umā. The poems — many of which are presented here for the first time in English translation — were written from the early eighteenth century up to the contemporary period. They represent the unique Bengali tradition of goddess worship (Śāktism) as it developed over this period. The author's lucid introduction places these works in their historical context and shows how images of the goddesses evolved over the centuries. The lively translations of these poetic lyrics evoke the passion and devotion of the followers of Kālī and Umā and shed light on the history and practice of goddess worship.

The role of women and ideas of gender are fundamental components of all religious traditions. Tantric traditions in particular offer a unique perspective on women's participation in religious ...
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The role of women and ideas of gender are fundamental components of all religious traditions. Tantric traditions in particular offer a unique perspective on women's participation in religious traditions since they frequently incorporate worship of Goddesses, along with ordinary women as participants in religious rites. This book examines the representations of women within Tantra using a case study of a selection of Hindu Tantric texts from the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries in Northeast India. Arguing for a nuanced perspective of women in Tantra, this book presents evidence for women's enhanced status in some traditions of Tantra, with women in the roles of guru and initiate. This book also addresses images of women within the Tantric rite of sexual union, arguing for multiple versions and motivations for this notorious practice. Especially this book addresses issues of discourse and speech, women's speech and speech about women, suggesting the imbrication of women's bodies within ideas of women's speech. This book examines a number of Tantric texts that have so far not been translated into Western languages. One appendix delineates the historical context for fifteenth through eighteenth century in the Northeast region of India and also surveys images of women found across a wide range of Tantric texts. The second appendix gives a chapter by chapter synopsis of the primary text used for this study, the Bṭhannīla Tantra, “The Great Blue Tantra,” a long and so far untranslated Tantric text.Less

Renowned Goddess of Desire : Women, Sex, and Speech in Tantra

Loriliai Biernacki

Published in print: 2008-05-01

The role of women and ideas of gender are fundamental components of all religious traditions. Tantric traditions in particular offer a unique perspective on women's participation in religious traditions since they frequently incorporate worship of Goddesses, along with ordinary women as participants in religious rites. This book examines the representations of women within Tantra using a case study of a selection of Hindu Tantric texts from the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries in Northeast India. Arguing for a nuanced perspective of women in Tantra, this book presents evidence for women's enhanced status in some traditions of Tantra, with women in the roles of guru and initiate. This book also addresses images of women within the Tantric rite of sexual union, arguing for multiple versions and motivations for this notorious practice. Especially this book addresses issues of discourse and speech, women's speech and speech about women, suggesting the imbrication of women's bodies within ideas of women's speech. This book examines a number of Tantric texts that have so far not been translated into Western languages. One appendix delineates the historical context for fifteenth through eighteenth century in the Northeast region of India and also surveys images of women found across a wide range of Tantric texts. The second appendix gives a chapter by chapter synopsis of the primary text used for this study, the Bṭhannīla Tantra, “The Great Blue Tantra,” a long and so far untranslated Tantric text.

In the four chapters of Part II, public management ideas that loosely correspond to each of the four polar world views identified by cultural theory are discussed; here the cultural‐theory framework ...
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In the four chapters of Part II, public management ideas that loosely correspond to each of the four polar world views identified by cultural theory are discussed; here the cultural‐theory framework is mixed with a historical perspective to survey recurring approaches to public management that can be loosely characterized as hierarchist (Ch.. 4), individualist (Ch. 5), egalitarian (Ch. 6), and fatalist (this chapter). Starts by asking whether there can be a fatalist approach to public management—cultural theorists have identified fatalism as a viable way of life, but it does not figure prominently in conventional accounts on the provision of public services; Banfield has stated that in fatalist societies (such as Montegrano) public management will be (only) narrowly bureaucratic and statist because only paid officials will be concerned with public affairs, and the citizenry at large will be cynical about the motives of public officials; in spite of this widespread belief, however, there are likely to be few effective checks on public officials in a fatalist society, and Banfield sees fatalism as a social pathology bound to produce social backwardness and stagnation. Cultural theory is ambiguous on whether fatalism can be a viable basis of organization in the sense that a Montegrano‐type society could survive and reproduce itself over time, nor is it clear from the work of cultural theorists exactly what fatalists’ focus on karma amounts to. The last possibility—that fatalism might link to how‐to‐do‐it ideas about organizational design, as distinct from a view of the world as ineluctably ruled by the fickle goddess of fortune—has had little attention: from conventional cultural‐theory accounts, it would seem the most appropriate role, for fatalist social science in public management would be like that of the chorus in classical Greek theatre—and the second section of the chapter examines such a perspective on public management, looking particularly at one influential strain of ‘new institutionalist’ literature, which portrays the functioning of organizations as a highly unpredictable process, involving eclectic decision‐making unavoidably dependent on chance connections. It then moves on to build on the recipe for contrived randomness, and argues that a fatalist perspective can at least in some sense be taken beyond commentary and criticism into a positive prescription for conducting management and designing organizations to operate on the basis of chance.Less

Doing Public Management the Fatalist Way?

Christopher Hood

Published in print: 2000-02-03

In the four chapters of Part II, public management ideas that loosely correspond to each of the four polar world views identified by cultural theory are discussed; here the cultural‐theory framework is mixed with a historical perspective to survey recurring approaches to public management that can be loosely characterized as hierarchist (Ch.. 4), individualist (Ch. 5), egalitarian (Ch. 6), and fatalist (this chapter). Starts by asking whether there can be a fatalist approach to public management—cultural theorists have identified fatalism as a viable way of life, but it does not figure prominently in conventional accounts on the provision of public services; Banfield has stated that in fatalist societies (such as Montegrano) public management will be (only) narrowly bureaucratic and statist because only paid officials will be concerned with public affairs, and the citizenry at large will be cynical about the motives of public officials; in spite of this widespread belief, however, there are likely to be few effective checks on public officials in a fatalist society, and Banfield sees fatalism as a social pathology bound to produce social backwardness and stagnation. Cultural theory is ambiguous on whether fatalism can be a viable basis of organization in the sense that a Montegrano‐type society could survive and reproduce itself over time, nor is it clear from the work of cultural theorists exactly what fatalists’ focus on karma amounts to. The last possibility—that fatalism might link to how‐to‐do‐it ideas about organizational design, as distinct from a view of the world as ineluctably ruled by the fickle goddess of fortune—has had little attention: from conventional cultural‐theory accounts, it would seem the most appropriate role, for fatalist social science in public management would be like that of the chorus in classical Greek theatre—and the second section of the chapter examines such a perspective on public management, looking particularly at one influential strain of ‘new institutionalist’ literature, which portrays the functioning of organizations as a highly unpredictable process, involving eclectic decision‐making unavoidably dependent on chance connections. It then moves on to build on the recipe for contrived randomness, and argues that a fatalist perspective can at least in some sense be taken beyond commentary and criticism into a positive prescription for conducting management and designing organizations to operate on the basis of chance.

This book provides an overview of Bengali goddess worship or Shakti. The book identifies three major forms of goddess worship, and examines each through its myths, folklore, songs, rituals, sacred ...
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This book provides an overview of Bengali goddess worship or Shakti. The book identifies three major forms of goddess worship, and examines each through its myths, folklore, songs, rituals, sacred texts, and practitioners. Drawing on years of fieldwork and extensive research, the book paints a portrait of this religious tradition.Less

June McDaniel

Published in print: 2004-08-05

This book provides an overview of Bengali goddess worship or Shakti. The book identifies three major forms of goddess worship, and examines each through its myths, folklore, songs, rituals, sacred texts, and practitioners. Drawing on years of fieldwork and extensive research, the book paints a portrait of this religious tradition.

This chapter reexamines the evidence for two cults of Helen, as part of a discussion into the origins of Helen and her myth outside of her narrative. Some scholars have posited that Helen, before ...
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This chapter reexamines the evidence for two cults of Helen, as part of a discussion into the origins of Helen and her myth outside of her narrative. Some scholars have posited that Helen, before becoming humanized into a heroine in Homer's epic, had originated as a goddess, and is thus hypostatized as an essential or real being who exists before and outside of myth and poetry and somehow enters the extant sources. To make matters more obscure, there are two such goddesses—two hypostases. In one, Helen is the avatar of an Indo-European goddess, who is also reflected in certain goddesses in the Rig Veda. In the other hypostasis, Helen is a goddess of cult.Less

Hypostases of Helen

Lowell Edmunds

Published in print: 2015-10-13

This chapter reexamines the evidence for two cults of Helen, as part of a discussion into the origins of Helen and her myth outside of her narrative. Some scholars have posited that Helen, before becoming humanized into a heroine in Homer's epic, had originated as a goddess, and is thus hypostatized as an essential or real being who exists before and outside of myth and poetry and somehow enters the extant sources. To make matters more obscure, there are two such goddesses—two hypostases. In one, Helen is the avatar of an Indo-European goddess, who is also reflected in certain goddesses in the Rig Veda. In the other hypostasis, Helen is a goddess of cult.

It's a familiar story: a beautiful woman is abducted and her husband journeys to recover her. This story's best-known incarnation is also a central Greek myth—the abduction of Helen that led to the ...
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It's a familiar story: a beautiful woman is abducted and her husband journeys to recover her. This story's best-known incarnation is also a central Greek myth—the abduction of Helen that led to the Trojan War. Stealing Helen surveys a vast range of folktales and texts exhibiting the story pattern of the abducted beautiful wife and makes a detailed comparison with the Helen of Troy myth. This book shows that certain Sanskrit, Welsh, and Old Irish texts suggest there was an Indo-European story of the abducted wife before the Helen myth of the Iliad became known. Investigating Helen's status in ancient Greek sources, the book argues that if Helen was just one trope of the abducted wife, the quest for Helen's origin in Spartan cult can be abandoned, as can the quest for an Indo-European goddess who grew into the Helen myth. The book explains that Helen was not a divine essence but a narrative figure that could replicate itself as needed, at various times or places in ancient Greece. It recovers some of these narrative Helens, such as those of the Pythagoreans and of Simon Magus, which then inspired the Helens of the Faust legend and Goethe. This book offers a detailed critique of prevailing views behind the “real” Helen and presents an eye-opening exploration of the many sources for this international mythical and literary icon.Less

Stealing Helen : The Myth of the Abducted Wife in Comparative Perspective

Lowell Edmunds

Published in print: 2015-10-13

It's a familiar story: a beautiful woman is abducted and her husband journeys to recover her. This story's best-known incarnation is also a central Greek myth—the abduction of Helen that led to the Trojan War. Stealing Helen surveys a vast range of folktales and texts exhibiting the story pattern of the abducted beautiful wife and makes a detailed comparison with the Helen of Troy myth. This book shows that certain Sanskrit, Welsh, and Old Irish texts suggest there was an Indo-European story of the abducted wife before the Helen myth of the Iliad became known. Investigating Helen's status in ancient Greek sources, the book argues that if Helen was just one trope of the abducted wife, the quest for Helen's origin in Spartan cult can be abandoned, as can the quest for an Indo-European goddess who grew into the Helen myth. The book explains that Helen was not a divine essence but a narrative figure that could replicate itself as needed, at various times or places in ancient Greece. It recovers some of these narrative Helens, such as those of the Pythagoreans and of Simon Magus, which then inspired the Helens of the Faust legend and Goethe. This book offers a detailed critique of prevailing views behind the “real” Helen and presents an eye-opening exploration of the many sources for this international mythical and literary icon.

This chapter explores the ways that South Indian Hindu women expand the boundaries of domesticity through a ritual alliance between women and the goddess Gangamma. In many Indian contexts, marriage ...
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This chapter explores the ways that South Indian Hindu women expand the boundaries of domesticity through a ritual alliance between women and the goddess Gangamma. In many Indian contexts, marriage is understood to be the quintessential domestic institution, serving most often to curtail significantly women's freedom and agency in the public sphere. A form of marriage which is socially liberating for Hindu women is considered — a form of ritual marriage that women may enact with Gangamma. When illness strikes in villages around the pilgrimage town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh — especially illnesses of poxes, rashes, and high fevers associated with the hot season and particular village goddesses — little girls may be offered to the goddess Gangamma in exchange for the latter's protection and healing. When these girls reach puberty, they exchange talis (wedding necklaces) with the goddess and are considered married to her. Their alliance with the goddess, formalized by the ritualized exchange of talis, affords them protection, freedom of movement, and agency outside the domestic sphere.Less

Wandering from “Hills to Valleys” with the Goddess: Protection and Freedom in the Matamma Tradition of Andhra

Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger

Published in print: 2007-04-05

This chapter explores the ways that South Indian Hindu women expand the boundaries of domesticity through a ritual alliance between women and the goddess Gangamma. In many Indian contexts, marriage is understood to be the quintessential domestic institution, serving most often to curtail significantly women's freedom and agency in the public sphere. A form of marriage which is socially liberating for Hindu women is considered — a form of ritual marriage that women may enact with Gangamma. When illness strikes in villages around the pilgrimage town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh — especially illnesses of poxes, rashes, and high fevers associated with the hot season and particular village goddesses — little girls may be offered to the goddess Gangamma in exchange for the latter's protection and healing. When these girls reach puberty, they exchange talis (wedding necklaces) with the goddess and are considered married to her. Their alliance with the goddess, formalized by the ritualized exchange of talis, affords them protection, freedom of movement, and agency outside the domestic sphere.

This chapter explores questions of Hindu women's power in connection with goddess possession rituals in the Kangra Valley area of Himachal Pradesh, North India. In Kangra, it is not uncommon for ...
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This chapter explores questions of Hindu women's power in connection with goddess possession rituals in the Kangra Valley area of Himachal Pradesh, North India. In Kangra, it is not uncommon for women to become possessed by a goddess, to speak with her voice, and to act as healers and mediums in their communities. Possession grants householder women opportunities to travel beyond their domiciles and form a female community with other women, however temporary. This in turn may provide women access to advice, support, or even material assistance. These ritual spaces are “cracks” in a patriarchal system that cannot be completely controlled by patriarchal norms and that provide outlets for women's creativity and interconnection.Less

The Play of the Mother: : Possession and Power in Hindu Women's Goddess Rituals

Kathleen M. Erndl

Published in print: 2007-04-05

This chapter explores questions of Hindu women's power in connection with goddess possession rituals in the Kangra Valley area of Himachal Pradesh, North India. In Kangra, it is not uncommon for women to become possessed by a goddess, to speak with her voice, and to act as healers and mediums in their communities. Possession grants householder women opportunities to travel beyond their domiciles and form a female community with other women, however temporary. This in turn may provide women access to advice, support, or even material assistance. These ritual spaces are “cracks” in a patriarchal system that cannot be completely controlled by patriarchal norms and that provide outlets for women's creativity and interconnection.

Whereas Hanuman is sometimes alleged to be primarily a “men's deity”, this chapter takes a fresh look at his cult through the lens of gender relations and of discourses about sexuality and its ...
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Whereas Hanuman is sometimes alleged to be primarily a “men's deity”, this chapter takes a fresh look at his cult through the lens of gender relations and of discourses about sexuality and its control. It re-examines the controversial Vrishakapi (“bull-monkey”) hymn in the Rig Veda as well as the emotional portrayal of Hanuman's encounter with Sita in the Sundarakanda of the Ramayana of Valmiki. It then turns to several modern temple cults in which an independent, virginal Mother Goddess is accompanied by a simian bodyguard and familiar, whose close relationship with her is celebrated in legends and folksongs. The final section of the chapter examines lore that questions or problematizes Hanuman's famed celibacy by making him (e.g., in the Rama stories of Jainism) either a lusty adventurer or (in much modern Hindi-language lore) the unwitting “husband” of a submarine wife and father to a mighty son.Less

Like Mother, Like Son : Hanuman, Goddesses, and Women

Philip Lutgendorf

Published in print: 2007-01-25

Whereas Hanuman is sometimes alleged to be primarily a “men's deity”, this chapter takes a fresh look at his cult through the lens of gender relations and of discourses about sexuality and its control. It re-examines the controversial Vrishakapi (“bull-monkey”) hymn in the Rig Veda as well as the emotional portrayal of Hanuman's encounter with Sita in the Sundarakanda of the Ramayana of Valmiki. It then turns to several modern temple cults in which an independent, virginal Mother Goddess is accompanied by a simian bodyguard and familiar, whose close relationship with her is celebrated in legends and folksongs. The final section of the chapter examines lore that questions or problematizes Hanuman's famed celibacy by making him (e.g., in the Rama stories of Jainism) either a lusty adventurer or (in much modern Hindi-language lore) the unwitting “husband” of a submarine wife and father to a mighty son.